125
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
To begin one must examine Peter's early life before the fateful day when he was introduced to the [[Messiah]]. It is true that the Bible is somewhat silent on the issue of Peter's early life. Indeed the Gospels mention very little of [[Jesus]]' own early life, and even less of the lives of his disciples. No specific date is available for the birth of Peter. One may assume that since he was running a fishing business when he met Jesus that he was "in his early thirties, born, like Jesus, some time before the turn of the century," (Thiede). Regardless of when he was born his original name was Simon or Symeon (Cullmann). If his name was Symeon which is "used of Peter...only in Acts 15.14 and II Peter 1.1" (Cullman), then it is clear that his parents named him with a Hebrew name. It has been supposed the Simon was merely a transliteration of the Hebrew name Symeon, however, a strong case can be made for Simon being Hellenistic because it was already attested to in Aristophanes' plays (Cullman).
According to the [[John | Gospel of John]], Peter was from the city of [[Bethsaida]] (1.44). He was also the son of a certain Jonah, or perhaps John (Cullmann). Bethsaida was raised to the status of city by Phillip the Tetrarch, he was a Hellenizer who furthered Graeco-Roman culture throughout his area of influence (Thiede). It may then have been quite likely that Peter was acquainted well with Hellenistic culture and the Greek language. It may also be safely assumed that Peter had some knowledge of both Aramaic and Hebrew, as well. It is also likely that he had received the standard education that any Jewish male might have in the first century which consisted of education in reading, writing and, of course, memorization of the [[Torah]] (Thiede). It may also be possible that Peter had some connection to the [[Zealots]] (Cullmann). The Johannine account gives some reason to believe that before his introduction to Jesus he may have been among the disciples of John the Baptist (Cullmann, John 1.35-42). Finally it must also be mentioned that several passages explain that Peter had a wife (Mark 1.30; 1 Cor. 9.5).
Synthesizing the accounts of Jesus' first meeting with Peter is the first task in discussing his life as a disciple of Jesus.. Mark 1.16 and Matthew 4.18, feature Peter and Andrew as the first of Jesus' disciples whom he calls "on the shores of the Sea of Galilee," (Thiede). John 1.35-42 also seems to indicate that Peter was among the first disciples, however not everyone agrees that Peter was among the disciples of John (Thiede 22). Regardless, it would appear that Peter was one of the first, if not the first, of the disciples who were called by Jesus. Even Encyclopedia Britannica agrees with this, saying that Peter was called by Jesus "at the beginning of his ministry." If the Johannine account is favored, Jesus bestows the title "Cephas," (meaning "Rock", Gk. Petros) on Peter at their first meeting with the words, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas," (John 1.42b). On the other hand the first occurrence of the name in the Gospel of Mark, which may have been compiled from source material given to John Mark by Peter himself, is in a list of the disciples (Mark 3.16). The account recorded in the Gospel of Matthew has Jesus bestowing the name on Peter after the latter confesses, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God," (Matthew 16.16-17). It is possible to harmonize these variations if one is "determined to do so," (Cullmann). However, the wiser use of ones time may be to rest on one of two conclusions. The first possible conclusion is that Jesus spoke about the giving of the name at various times throughout his ministry and that the writers are simply including a sampling of those different times. The second possible conclusion is that the exact memory of the moment "Jesus gave Peter the title had been lost," (Cullmann).
→Early Life
==Early Life==
==Life during Jesus' Ministry==
